Thumbs -- Published Jan. 29, 2013

Newly seated Stockton Councilman Michael Tubbs says he wants to bring more accessibility and transparency to city government.

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Posted Jan. 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Posted Jan. 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM

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THUMBS UP

Newly seated Stockton Councilman Michael Tubbs says he wants to bring more accessibility and transparency to city government.

One way he plans to do that is to hold regular office hours each month, a time when constituents can come in and jaw with Tubbs about what's on their minds.

Not a bad idea, but no council member should be - and few really are - beyond the reach of a telephone. Still, there's nothing like sitting face to face with someone and laying out your concerns, gripes or ideas.

THUMBS UP and DOWN

It was a tough call and a close one, but in the end Calaveras Unified School District trustees voted 3-2 last week against building a $5.4 million arts center already approved and partially funded by the state.

Most of the money for the center, which would have included a 500-seat performance hall, was available. The state approved $1.2 million, and the district has about $4 million remaining from a bond measure approved in 2006.

But a majority of the trustees just couldn't pull the trigger, not amid layoffs and a shrinking school population.

Yet to be decided is what to do with the remaining bond funds.

THUMBS UP and DOWN

Yolo County Superior Court Judge Paul Richardson was correct when he rejected claims that a video showing the June 2008 shooting death of Yolo County sheriff's Deputy Tony Diaz played at trial and later on a Sacramento television station violated the privacy of the dead deputy's family.

An attorney for Crime Victims United, representing the Diaz family, sought an order stopping viewing of the dashboard camera video that captured Diaz's death at the hands of Marco Topete following a chase near Dunnigan.

The family was entitled to privacy under Marsy's Law that's designed to protect the privacy of crime victims and their families.

But Judge Richardson cited a California court statute in denying the order with prejudice, saying court records, unless deemed confidential, are presumed to be public record.

"The documentation taken by a government agency is a matter of public record, especially in the matter of a court proceeding," said First Amendment authority Terry Franck of California Aware.

We agree. The video is public record. The decision by KCRA-TV to air it is another matter.

THUMBS DOWN

Whenever you start to question the sanity of this state's lawmakers, consider some of the elected officials other Americans must endure. Two examples:

» Franklin County, Ind., commissioners voted unanimously to approve the county's "Second Amendment Preservation Act," declaring that all federal laws in violation of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment are invalid in the county and won't be enforced.

But not to be outdone, an Indiana state senator, Phil Boots, has introduced a bill making it a felony to attempt to enforce a federal law declared void by the Legislature. His bill is aimed at the federal health care reform act already upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Perhaps the commissioners (not usually the nation's arbiters of constitutionality) and Boots could benefit from a reading of Article VI, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the so-called supremacy clause.

» State Rep. Cathrynn Brown of New Mexico has introduced a bill that would jail any rape victim - and her doctor - who has an abortion. The charge: evidence tampering. The possible sentence: up to three years in prison.

Brown's tortured logic is that this will deter sex offenders, although she has yet to explain how turning rape victims into felons accomplishes that.

Still, don't the officials in Indiana and New Mexico make you feel better about ours in California?